LenaRosalie
Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
14h 28m
Days in Journal
2 days
Last played
December 26, 2023
First played
December 24, 2023
Platforms Played
'Silent Line: Armored Core' is a fantastic expansion game and has made itself possibly my favourite entry thus far. If 'Armored Core 3' was an engaging and surprisingly poignant mecha romp then 'Silent Line' is more so, only now further developed in conciseness and creativity.
Mechanically this is practically the same game so I won't repeat my praises of FromSoftware's introduction to the third generation, but this does not at all mean that these games play the same. 'Silent Line' is noticeably more demanding but also features levels which support more frantic combat and makes some changes to building your AC. Starting with the latter mentioned alterations, left arm weapons have evolved into proper form here, and there is now a huge variety of left arm ranged options to choose from, not just howitzers and laser blades. As long as you customise your control method to make firing both at the same time feasible you can create some utterly deadly combinations which will be necessary for these new, much more challenging missions. There's such excitement in how much 'Silent Line' expects of you, treating with almost 200 new parts, many of which are hidden off the beaten path in levels, making the polyamorous marriage between systems, mechanics and level designs stronger than it ever has been. They all feed each other dearly.
'Silent Line: Armored Core' truly has one of the most finely tuned difficulty curves I've enjoyed in a good amount of time, every single fight feels more intense than the last barring a singularly disappointing exception I'll speak on later, and the kinda weirdly balanced Arena. The Arena this time is gated and paced similarly to how to was in 1999s 'Armored Core: Master of Arena', and those of you who read my review of that game will know that I very much approve of this, it's just that I found most of the encounters too easy. Lots of the builds felt samey or had weaknesses so universal that the cool quirks of their design just never got a moment in the sun before being obliterated, but other than that occasional hiccup it was just as fun as it's always been and the best way to stay on top of the economy since mission providers are extremely stingy with cash this time around. John Morbius was certainly a more formidable Nine-Breaker than Ace, and the three new maps are all great additions which I spent a lot of time on. Now, while the Arena might be a bit on the absent minded side at times, the main missions are laden with welcome skill checks to keep even those who demonstrated great talent in the base game from slacking off. The mid-late game has great tests of endurance and careful consideration of how one spreads their AP across a mission in a daunting decent in an underground lab the player performs asynchronously with another pilot, or movement in a frenetic assault on a base near the titular location where orbital lasers paint the floor you spring from. Mission variety is on complete focus, as while this game is much shorter, it is only made better by how precise its concerns are. Every mission feels like it would have been among the best of 'Armored Core 3' and while the environmental design is not as rich, it still plays as an elegant framing device and has some very strong moments. On the former point, as missions get closer to the Line the areas become bleaker, more barren, featuring less to be able to draw conclusions with. This makes the mystery of the Silent Line as a location much stronger, giving its eventual reveal the same appeal as the surface possessed previously in '3', the design of the unique enemies which come to defend it being almost otherworldly in appearance makes the player controlled AC feel alien in these settings, immersing you as the encroaching force, the invasive vulture, reporting to a nest of saccharine metals and short-standing concrete. This idea is played through to the end and it's very compelling, it would be easy to think of the extended time you spend away from the Line and even underground in places from 'Armored Core 3' as cop outs, but the missions themselves that take place in moments like that are backed by the same level of enthralling, memorable challenge and elegant narrative contextualisation that it would feel weak-sauce to make a negative point out of. The return to the Controller's lair in old Layered is such a haunting section, doubling down on the presentational twinkles from 'Armored Core 3' of a bleaker, more tested setting that have now truly gleamed into the representative qualities they were building up to be. The mission, in terms of structural design, is also strikingly bold in asking "what if instead of having two enemy ACs up the player's ass... we had... three? Wouldn't that be bossed up?" And for sure, it was awesome, though someone really needs to teach Ori how to get his Moon Salt to re-ascend an elevator shaft properly without getting his big metal knob stuck in the crevices on the way up. These levels aren't padding, they're pacing, this builds reverence and anticipation for the unexplored region of the surface world, FromSoftware know how to mediate this aspect to great ends here and it results in quite the enticing game.
Such as it is advanced and majestic, the Silent Line, it is to take no want of humanity, ostensibly. As the game goes on the player will unknowingly build a relationship with the series' best antagonist who shall remain unnamed for the sake of keeping this review spoiler free, but the key understanding is simply something excellent. By the end, it is to be realised that it was never the Silent Line which rejects humanity, but rather the other way around, for the systems of capital have dominated so much of this setting that they now almost entirely define human existence all up to a single point, that of the vultures themselves. This system, these visions of metal and smoke, it never wanted the prosperity that could be found in the Silent Line to be constituted by attributes relating to the inherent worth of its environment—capital doesn't see things that way—it was merely some new medium of conquest, of advancement, of capital aspiration. Humanity, dictated by the corporations, pushed forward toward it in a pattern, a pattern so deep that no reason could penetrate its cover of cruel and spotless steel, simply because they had to, simply because there had never—in their minds at least—been anything else. The antagonist surreptitiously places faith in the player controlled Raven, provoking them at various points to think about what these organisations you cater to might do in their ascendancy to power, calling out to them in the dying voices of their minions , trying to reach them in some way to maybe awaken the idea that one mightn't feel all too comforted by this pattern of endless violence when it's logical conclusion draws closer. By the end, toppled over in an unfortunately easy boss encounter, they tell the Raven that "the rest is up to [them]", this onus, just as it did with Klein in 'Armored Core 2' comes back to those who might have the power to truly change things if they themselves can change, the faith placed again in those who choose to awaken anew, away from all of this.
The capital submissiveness of the Ravens as a focus could very well be seen as a little trite at this point, but I don't feel that way, not only because the 'Armored Core' series is finding more poignant language to express these things, but also because this language is being treated to an intersection relating to industrialisation's relationship with our physical environment in capital's inability to appreciate our very own Earth—or, as implied, any other aspect of life—so far as it sits outside it's own mind game, and the game has levelled out to a point of self awareness that makes it hard to call pretentious. The idea of the Ravens as competitive vultures has been played for both drama and comedy at this stage, with a one very funny mission in particular having three of them—including the player—start senselessly ripping each other apart during what was supposed to be an light aim training exercise, hilariously being one of the harder two-on-one fights in a game with a bunch of tough encounters of that type.
I have such deep affections for the third generation of 'Armored Core', these two are absolutely some of the best games on the PlayStation 2, which is saying a lot given the legendary status of the machine and its library. I feel like these are the two entries that really had me get what makes 'Armored Core' truly special. One really has to wonder how FromSoftware do it, but at any rate, I'm very excited to see what 'Nexus' does with this ground to jump off... and its right analog stick.
Mechanically this is practically the same game so I won't repeat my praises of FromSoftware's introduction to the third generation, but this does not at all mean that these games play the same. 'Silent Line' is noticeably more demanding but also features levels which support more frantic combat and makes some changes to building your AC. Starting with the latter mentioned alterations, left arm weapons have evolved into proper form here, and there is now a huge variety of left arm ranged options to choose from, not just howitzers and laser blades. As long as you customise your control method to make firing both at the same time feasible you can create some utterly deadly combinations which will be necessary for these new, much more challenging missions. There's such excitement in how much 'Silent Line' expects of you, treating with almost 200 new parts, many of which are hidden off the beaten path in levels, making the polyamorous marriage between systems, mechanics and level designs stronger than it ever has been. They all feed each other dearly.
'Silent Line: Armored Core' truly has one of the most finely tuned difficulty curves I've enjoyed in a good amount of time, every single fight feels more intense than the last barring a singularly disappointing exception I'll speak on later, and the kinda weirdly balanced Arena. The Arena this time is gated and paced similarly to how to was in 1999s 'Armored Core: Master of Arena', and those of you who read my review of that game will know that I very much approve of this, it's just that I found most of the encounters too easy. Lots of the builds felt samey or had weaknesses so universal that the cool quirks of their design just never got a moment in the sun before being obliterated, but other than that occasional hiccup it was just as fun as it's always been and the best way to stay on top of the economy since mission providers are extremely stingy with cash this time around. John Morbius was certainly a more formidable Nine-Breaker than Ace, and the three new maps are all great additions which I spent a lot of time on. Now, while the Arena might be a bit on the absent minded side at times, the main missions are laden with welcome skill checks to keep even those who demonstrated great talent in the base game from slacking off. The mid-late game has great tests of endurance and careful consideration of how one spreads their AP across a mission in a daunting decent in an underground lab the player performs asynchronously with another pilot, or movement in a frenetic assault on a base near the titular location where orbital lasers paint the floor you spring from. Mission variety is on complete focus, as while this game is much shorter, it is only made better by how precise its concerns are. Every mission feels like it would have been among the best of 'Armored Core 3' and while the environmental design is not as rich, it still plays as an elegant framing device and has some very strong moments. On the former point, as missions get closer to the Line the areas become bleaker, more barren, featuring less to be able to draw conclusions with. This makes the mystery of the Silent Line as a location much stronger, giving its eventual reveal the same appeal as the surface possessed previously in '3', the design of the unique enemies which come to defend it being almost otherworldly in appearance makes the player controlled AC feel alien in these settings, immersing you as the encroaching force, the invasive vulture, reporting to a nest of saccharine metals and short-standing concrete. This idea is played through to the end and it's very compelling, it would be easy to think of the extended time you spend away from the Line and even underground in places from 'Armored Core 3' as cop outs, but the missions themselves that take place in moments like that are backed by the same level of enthralling, memorable challenge and elegant narrative contextualisation that it would feel weak-sauce to make a negative point out of. The return to the Controller's lair in old Layered is such a haunting section, doubling down on the presentational twinkles from 'Armored Core 3' of a bleaker, more tested setting that have now truly gleamed into the representative qualities they were building up to be. The mission, in terms of structural design, is also strikingly bold in asking "what if instead of having two enemy ACs up the player's ass... we had... three? Wouldn't that be bossed up?" And for sure, it was awesome, though someone really needs to teach Ori how to get his Moon Salt to re-ascend an elevator shaft properly without getting his big metal knob stuck in the crevices on the way up. These levels aren't padding, they're pacing, this builds reverence and anticipation for the unexplored region of the surface world, FromSoftware know how to mediate this aspect to great ends here and it results in quite the enticing game.
Such as it is advanced and majestic, the Silent Line, it is to take no want of humanity, ostensibly. As the game goes on the player will unknowingly build a relationship with the series' best antagonist who shall remain unnamed for the sake of keeping this review spoiler free, but the key understanding is simply something excellent. By the end, it is to be realised that it was never the Silent Line which rejects humanity, but rather the other way around, for the systems of capital have dominated so much of this setting that they now almost entirely define human existence all up to a single point, that of the vultures themselves. This system, these visions of metal and smoke, it never wanted the prosperity that could be found in the Silent Line to be constituted by attributes relating to the inherent worth of its environment—capital doesn't see things that way—it was merely some new medium of conquest, of advancement, of capital aspiration. Humanity, dictated by the corporations, pushed forward toward it in a pattern, a pattern so deep that no reason could penetrate its cover of cruel and spotless steel, simply because they had to, simply because there had never—in their minds at least—been anything else. The antagonist surreptitiously places faith in the player controlled Raven, provoking them at various points to think about what these organisations you cater to might do in their ascendancy to power, calling out to them in the dying voices of their minions , trying to reach them in some way to maybe awaken the idea that one mightn't feel all too comforted by this pattern of endless violence when it's logical conclusion draws closer. By the end, toppled over in an unfortunately easy boss encounter, they tell the Raven that "the rest is up to [them]", this onus, just as it did with Klein in 'Armored Core 2' comes back to those who might have the power to truly change things if they themselves can change, the faith placed again in those who choose to awaken anew, away from all of this.
The capital submissiveness of the Ravens as a focus could very well be seen as a little trite at this point, but I don't feel that way, not only because the 'Armored Core' series is finding more poignant language to express these things, but also because this language is being treated to an intersection relating to industrialisation's relationship with our physical environment in capital's inability to appreciate our very own Earth—or, as implied, any other aspect of life—so far as it sits outside it's own mind game, and the game has levelled out to a point of self awareness that makes it hard to call pretentious. The idea of the Ravens as competitive vultures has been played for both drama and comedy at this stage, with a one very funny mission in particular having three of them—including the player—start senselessly ripping each other apart during what was supposed to be an light aim training exercise, hilariously being one of the harder two-on-one fights in a game with a bunch of tough encounters of that type.
I have such deep affections for the third generation of 'Armored Core', these two are absolutely some of the best games on the PlayStation 2, which is saying a lot given the legendary status of the machine and its library. I feel like these are the two entries that really had me get what makes 'Armored Core' truly special. One really has to wonder how FromSoftware do it, but at any rate, I'm very excited to see what 'Nexus' does with this ground to jump off... and its right analog stick.